BOOKING CONDITIONS
We endeavor to ensure that all our clients have complete satisfaction no matter what their requirements are. It should, however, be understood that we are acting on behalf of the supplier of the travel product specified and that all bookings are accepted on the following conditions:
1. DEFINITIONS
“Package” means the prearranged combination of at least two of transport, accommodation and other tourist services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and accounting for a significant proportion of the package when advertised and sold at an inclusive price.
“Travel Product” means packages and any other travel related products including (without limitation) flight, rail and coach tickets and insurance;
“Operator” means any person who organizes travel products and sells them or offers them for sale including but not limited hoteliers, tour operators, tour guides.
2. LIABILITY
All bookings accepted by us and arrangements made by us are subject to the terms and conditions of the operator concerned and we have no direct contractual liability to you in connection with the travel product specified except as may be imposed by law. As an agent we accept no responsibility for the acts or omissions of the Travel Product or Operator. The Operator’s terms & conditions will apply to your booking and we advise you to read these carefully as they do contain important information about your booking. Please ask us for copies of these if you do not have them.
3. PAYMENT
You will be required to pay a deposit or deposits when booking. Your curator will advise you of how much that will be. All deposits are non-refundable for changes of mind or cancellations by you. Final payment is required no later than 6 weeks prior to departure unless otherwise stated. Some services must be paid in full at the time of booking. For your security, online payments are made through secure servers. Online bookings must be paid in full at the time of booking. You authorize us to charge all fees incurred by you in relation to the services provided to the credit card or debit card designated by you. If payment is not received from the card issuer or its agents for any reason, you agree to pay us all amounts due immediately on demand.
Your booking is confirmed and a contract between you and the operator will exist when we send you confirmation on their behalf. Please check your confirmation carefully and report any incorrect or incomplete information to us immediately. Please ensure that names are exactly as stated in the relevant passport. As we act only as booking agent, we have no responsibility for any errors in any documentation except where an error is made by us.
Where an offer of availability is made by the operator, your booking is not confirmed until you receive a booking confirmation. We therefore advise you to accept the offer as soon as possible after receipt in order to make a firm booking. You will be notified by email within 24 hours whether your booking has been confirmed. It is your responsibility to contact Pause if a confirmation email has not been received.
All prices are subject to availability and can be withdrawn or varied without notice. The price is only guaranteed once paid for in full by you. Please note that prices quoted are subject to change. Price changes may occur by reason of matters outside our control which increase the cost of the product or service. Such factors include adverse currency fluctuations, fuel surcharges and taxes. Please contact your Curator for up-to-date prices. All currency conversions provided by us are only valid on the date of booking and are provided only as a guideline. The safest way to avoid fluctuation is by fully prepaying your booking in your preferred currency at the time of booking.
Pause cannot be held responsible for errors and/or omissions in bookings or pricing, either made by the operator, or as a result of a system failure of any kind. We reserve the right to amend advertised prices at any time. We also reserve the right to correct errors in both advertised and confirmed prices. It is your responsibility to check the price of your chosen vacation at the time of booking.
4. CANCELLATION AND AMMENDMENTS TO YOUR BOOKING
In the event that you do not pay for the travel product specified within the time limits specified above we reserve the right on our own behalf and on behalf of the operator to cancel your booking of the travel product on your behalf, or not to confirm the final booking with the operator, in either case without further notification to you. If this occurs then the initial deposit will not be refundable and the balance of any further money paid by you for the travel product will be dealt with in accordance with the operator’s terms and conditions and any applicable law.
If you wish to amend or cancel a confirmed booking, you must contact us. Amendments and cancellations can only be accepted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the operator. In all cases, once the booking is confirmed, you are subject to the terms and conditions of that operator’s cancellation policy. You should be aware of your operator’s cancellation policies as they apply to your booking. Hotel cancellations vary from property to property and cancellation fees may apply to your cancellation. Operator fees may also apply where a booking is changed and when tickets or documents are re-issued. In the event of a change or cancellation to an existing booking, any fees, charges, or additional fares and taxes imposed by the operator are applicable and payable by you. Where we incur any liability for an operator cancellation fee for any booking which you change or cancel, you agree to indemnify us for the amount of that fee. Where you seek a refund for a cancelled booking for which payment has been made to the operator, we will not provide a refund to you until we receive the funds from that supplier.
Where applicable, refunds will be made by the same method used to pay for the booking. Any payment made by credit card will be returned to that card. Please note that all deposit payment and additional charges paid at the time of booking are non-refundable.
Any changes to a booking that involve the addition of sequential nights to a stay will be considered an amendment to the original booking, regardless of whether the extra nights are booked by the person who made the original booking, or by another guest with whom they are staying.
5. CHANGES AND CANCELLATIONS BY THE OPERATOR
We will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if the operator needs to make a significant change to your confirmed booking or to cancel. We will also liaise between you and the operator in relation to any alternative arrangements offered by the operator but we will have no further liability to you.
During local or national holidays, certain facilities such as museums, sightseeing trips and shopping may be limited or unavailable. In such instances itinerary changes are made by Operators seeking to reduce inconvenience to guests. Such changes are deemed not to be a major change, and no compensation will be payable to guests. Holidays, closing days and other circumstances may necessitate a change of the day of the week for scheduled regional meals, sightseeing or other activities. If you feel your enjoyment might be diminished by any of these circumstances please check with the respective national tourist office before selecting a specific departure date.
6. REMINDERS
The receipt/invoice is your final account and no further reminder regarding payment will be sent.
6.1 LATE ARRIVALS / DELAYS
It is your responsibility to arrive at all departure points at the final times specified in the tickets and/or itineraries supplied. You must check- in in good time. 3hrs for Intercontinental Flights, 2hrs for European flights and 90 mins for UK domestic services is the recommended check-in times prior to your flight departure. We do not accept responsibility for the consequences of your late or non-arrival as specified above.
If you are booking connecting rail / coach / air etc. services to the departure airport yourself, we advise to book flexible tickets in case that the airline departure times that you have booked with us, change as a result of new slot times / new timetables etc. which does and can happen at any time and is outside of our control.
6.2 DOCUMENTATION
All travelers must have a valid passport for international travel and many countries require at least 6 months validity from the date of return and some countries require a machine-readable passport. When assisting with an international travel booking, we will assume that all travelers on the booking have a valid passport, visa (where applicable) and meet health requirements. If this is not the case, you must let us know. It is important that you ensure that you have valid passports, visas and re-entry permits which meet the requirements of immigration and other government authorities. It is your responsibility to ensure compliance with immigration, visa and health requirements. Any fines, penalties, payments or expenditures incurred as a result of such documents not meeting the requirements of those authorities will be your sole responsibility.
6.3 INSURANCE
We strongly recommend that you take out appropriate travel insurance to cover your travel arrangements. Your insurance protection should include coverage for cancellation, medical and repatriation expenses, personal injury and accident, death and loss of personal baggage and money and personal liability insurance. Evidence of such insurances should be produced to your travel Curator on request. We reserve the right not to accept bookings from clients who are not insured against such holiday or travel risks as we may from time to time specify.
6.4 HEALTH
You must ensure that you are aware of any health requirements and recommended precautions relevant to your travel and ensure that you carry all necessary vaccination documentation. In some cases, failure to present required vaccination documentation (e.g. proof of Yellow Fever vaccination) may deny you entry into a country. We recommend that you consult with your local doctor, travel medical service or specialist vaccination clinic before commencing your travel.
Guests must advise Pause, at time of booking, of any physical, medical or other special needs that require accommodating. Pause will make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices and procedures when necessary, unless doing so will fundamentally alter the nature of the services provided. Guests must ensure they are medically and physically able to travel.
In purchasing your vacation/holiday, you attest that you are physically fit for it. If you have concerns please request additional details about your journey from Pause or the Operator.
Optional Experiences are operated by independent third-party suppliers, not Pause. These are not part of the vacation/holiday package provided by us. Your contract will be with the operator of the experience. We are not responsible for providing of the experience, or anything that happens during the experience. Some experiences involve outdoor activities and/or can be physically demanding. You must make your own decisions about experiences and participate only in activities that suit your physical ability: we suggest that you speak with your medical provider if you have questions about your abilities. We recommend you check whether any insurance you have also includes your participation in adventure activities you may undertake.
6.5 COMPLAINTS
Thankfully these are rare; however, in the very unlikely event of anything not running to plan while on vacation, or you are dissatisfied with any aspect of it, you must report the fact locally to your hotel or your operators’ local representatives or suppliers.
In our experience most things can be resolved whilst you are on vacation to prevent your vacation from being spoiled. If your hotel can’t fix the issue for you, you should contact the operator’s staff or follow the instructions in your travel documents to give the operator the opportunity to resolve it for you.
If you can’t reach the local agents / representatives, or things are still not satisfactory to you; call us or contact us here. We’d rather help put things right if we can while you are on vacation, rather than when it’s too late after your vacation!
Any complaints in respect of the travel product specified must be made in writing within 60 days of the end of the holiday or journey concerned. We will then liaise between you and the operator in order to try to resolve your complaint. Please note that we do this because we value good customer service, and as a gesture of goodwill only. We do not accept responsibility for dealing with complaints, nor do we have any liability for refunds or compensation.
7. APPLICATIONS FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Prices, and details, of products and services (and any offers) posted online are subject to change without notice. Offers of any kind may also be subject to certain terms and conditions. All products, services and offers are subject to availability and we give no guarantee with regard to this point. The provision for details of products and services or offers on this web site are not, and should not be construed as an offer to sell or buy such products or services by the relevant company. The company advertising the products and services concerned may accept or reject your offer at its sole discretion.
Prices are the Tour Operators lead in price and may be limited in availability. We will be able to provide you with a final price for your chosen dates & itinerary when you call or before you confirm your reservation.
We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time by posting changes on this or our partners web site(s). It is your responsibility to review the web site terms and conditions regularly to ensure you are aware of the same. Your use of this web site after a change has been posted will be deemed to signify your acceptance of the modified terms and conditions. We recommend that you print off and retain for your records a copy of these terms and conditions from time to time and a copy of any terms and conditions relating to any product or service which you apply for online, together with any related application and/or proposal form duly completed and submitted to us or our partners (and received by us or our partners). Any amendment to any terms and conditions must be agreed in writing by us or by the relevant company with whom you contract.
8. DISCLAIMERS
While we have taken care in the preparation of the contents of this web site, the web site and information, names, images, pictures, logos and icons regarding or relating to us or any part of our Group and/or associated and/or sister companies, or the products and services of the same (or to third party products and services or those of our carefully selected partners), are provided on an “as existing” basis without any representation or endorsement being made and without any warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy. To the extent permitted by law, all such terms and warranties are hereby excluded. In no event will we be liable (whether in contract or tort, including negligence or breach of statutory duty or otherwise) for any losses sustained and arising out of or in connection with use of this web site including, without limitation, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of data or special loss.
We do not make claim that the information contained in this web site is accurate, comprehensive, verified or complete, and shall accept no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in the web site or for any reliance placed by any person or party (including but not limited to any third party) on the information contained herein. Furthermore, and for the avoidance of doubt, should a manual input “pricing” or “description” error occur, we reserve the right to inform you, cancel your booking for “nil” cost and give you the option to re-book at the higher price or lower price (as dictated at the time).
We do not warrant that the functions or materials accessible from or contained in this web site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected or that this web site or the server that makes it available are virus or bug free or represent the full functionality, accuracy or reliability of the materials.
9. ADDITIONAL RISKS
Additional risks and dangers may arise including, but not limited to, hazards of traveling in undeveloped areas, hazards of travel by boat, train, automobile, aircraft and other means of conveyance, animal interactions, forces of nature, political unrest, other unrest, hazardous local customs and practices, differing levels of sanitation, differing standards of safety, risks associated with water, food, plants, insects and differing animal regulation, accident or illness in areas lacking means of rapid evacuation or medical facilities, and acts of national and local governments and unrest and acts of others against governments. These risks are not an exhaustive list but are examples of many kinds of risks. You are voluntarily participating in these activities with the knowledge that there are significant dangers involved, and you hereby agree to accept any and all risks. As lawful consideration for the agreement with Pause to participate in such trips and activities you agree you will not make a claim against Pause, its related companies or its personnel or sue for bodily injury, emotional trauma, death, property loss or damage or other loss, cost or expense, however caused, as a result of or related to your contracting for, traveling to or from, or in any and every other way participating in the trip. You release Pause, its related companies and its personnel from any and all claims, known or unknown, arising from contracting for, traveling to or from, and in any and every way participating in a trip. This release of liability and assumption of risk agreement is entered into on behalf of you and all members of your family and party, also including minors accompanying you. This agreement also binds your heirs, legal representatives and assigns.
10. YOUR BEHAVIOR
We are here to provide the best services possible but in doing so we will not tolerate abusive or aggressive behavior from our guests. We will refuse to deal with and may terminate the holiday/vacation of guests who assault our Company Representatives or who are abusive or aggressive.
When you make a booking, you accept responsibility for the proper conduct of all members of your party during your stay. We reserve the right at any time to terminate the travel arrangements and/or cease to deal with any party member(s) whose behavior, in the reasonable opinion of us or our suppliers, may cause danger, upset, disruption or distress to anyone else or damage to property. Full cancellation charges will apply and no refund will be made. We shall have no obligation to pay compensation or meet any costs or expenses (including but not limited to alternative accommodation and return transportation arrangements) guest may incur as a result of the travel arrangements being terminated.
If you damage the accommodation in which you are staying or any property, you must reimburse the accommodation provider or property owner concerned for the cost of the damage before the end of your stay if the cost has been established by then or as soon as it has been established if later. You must indemnify us for the full amount of any claim (also including legal costs) made against us. Criminal proceedings may be instigated. Pause is not responsible for any costs incurred concerning a guest removed from a guided vacation/holiday or aircraft, ship or train. Guests agree not to hold Pause or any of its related entities liable for any actions taken under these terms and conditions.
11. FORCE MAJEURE
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions we will not be liable to pay you compensation if our contractual obligation to you are affect by reason of earthquake, fire, flood or other casualty or due to strikes, riot, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, terrorism, or a similar occurrence or condition beyond our reasonable control We shall be excused from performance during such prevention, restriction or interference, and any failure or delay resulting therefrom shall not be considered a breach of these conditions.
12. CHOICE OF LAW AND VENUE SELECTION
This Agreement is deemed to be entered into in New York, NY. The exclusive venue for any action concerning the interpretation, enforcement, or breach of any term, obligation, or duty as contained or related to these Terms and Conditions shall be solely in the Superior Court of New York in or for the district of New York or the United States District Court for the district of New York. This Agreement shall be construed according to the internal laws of New York without regard to conflicts of law principles. All guest claims must be submitted in writing and received by Pause no later than 60 days after completion of the Pause vacation. Guest claims not submitted and received within this time shall be deemed to be waived and barred.
13. SEVERABILITY
If any of these Terms and Conditions or any terms and conditions relating to a product or service referred to in this or any of our partner web sites should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by reason of the laws of any state or country in which such terms and conditions are intended to be effective, then to the extent of such illegality, invalidity or unenforceability, and in relation to such state or country only, such terms or condition shall be deleted and severed from the rest of the relevant terms and conditions and the remaining terms and conditions shall survive, remain in full force and effect and continue to be binding and enforceable.